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It had not been a good day for mad scientist Khatarnak Khatri, as per usual. Another day, another defeat at the hands of the town's cop hero. He'd managed to retreat back to his hidden lab deep in the jungle forest this time, but not before receiving quite a beating from a very upset Inspector Kavya.
Khatri stumbled into the laboratory, his hair and labcoat looking disheveled from the ordeal. One of his mutants, Rowdy Rhino, was sitting on a nearby couch playing a video game when he noticed his creator wander in, looking worse for wear. "Woah... boss, what happened?" the rhino asked.
"Little Singham and Kavya happened, that's what." Khatri growled, feeling something trickle down his lip and chin; he was bleeding, courtesy of Kavya punching him square in the nose.. hard. Upon noticing this, the scientist got a wet towel to try and help his injuries, the nosebleed in particular.
"Kavya, huh? You know, now that I think about it, I think you haven't really had much luck with ladies," another mutant, Bull Dozer, had wandered into the room after overhearing their conversation.
"Now you tell me..." Khatri muttered. The buffalo did have a point though, as any woman Khatri encountered was either afraid of him, wanted to beat him up, or call the cops on him the moment they could. Especially due to the fact that he was one of the most wanted criminals in the town of Mirchi Nagar.
"Speaking of ladies, a little birdie told me that some humans go on something called 'blind dates'." Rowdy said, his attention having gone back to his game.
Khatri's interest perked up with this. He'd heard about people using their 'phones' to try out multiple things like that. He also didn't really consider them phones as much as they were tiny, more addictive computers.
"Oh yeah, I heard 'bout that..." Bull Dozer chuckled. "Imagine if someone signed up for one of those with the boss."
"Yeah, that would not go well at all," Rowdy continued. "In the looks department he is kinda-"
"Ugly?" Khatri broke into their conversation, the two mutant ungulates flinching in fear upon hearing their creator's irate tone. "A freakshow? Unattractive? Go on, spit it out." the scientist growled, raising an eyebrow.
"I... I wasn't going to say THAT," the rhino continued. "I meant to say your appearance is pretty... recognizable in public."
"And you wonder why I keep to the shadows so much." Khatri growled, rolling his eyes. Though after he'd spent a moment in self-loathing, an idea sparked in his mind. An idea which prompted a fanged grin to slowly appear on his face; he felt interested by what Rowdy had brought up, and he thought up a solution for the problem of him being 'recognized'.
This 'blind date' thing sounded more and more intriguing as the solution materialized. Maybe, just maybe... he could have a chance with someone for once!
Khatri eagerly dashed down the hall to get to work on a new invention, much to the surprise of the two mutants. Though they'd sooner the scientist work on something than be at the mercy of his feelings. After a few hours, this invention was finally complete, and Khatri called Rowdy and Bull Dozer into the room for the reveal.
"Rowdy, Bull dozer. Remember when you said I could be 'too recognizable' for a blind date? Well, with the help of this machine, no one will suspect a thing!"
He lowered a helmet-like contraption over his head and flipped a switch, causing a whirring sound and a few flashes. When the device was removed, the mutants were left speechless.
Khatri's skin was now no longer a sickly green, his ears and teeth were no longer pointed or sharp, and his eyes were no longer bloodshot. The scientist now looked like he hadn't been changed by chemicals at all.
The scientist went on to explain how such an appearance was only courtesy of holographic technology, the settings and power of which he could check up on at any time thanks to a watch-like apparatus he now wore on his left wrist.
"That's... actually pretty clever, boss." Rowdy said, Bull Dozer agreeing and giving the man's ego a boost.
"Rowdy, assist me with setting things up regarding the date. Mark my words, with this device, nothing could possibly go wrong!" Khatri broke out into a crazed cackle, proud of his new invention. Of course, the moment those words left his mouth, he jinxed himself.
"Yes sir!" both mutants said, Rowdy leaving with Bull Dozer right behind him. Though he stopped before he did so. "By the way, boss," he began. "I've been meaning to ask you about... that pillow in your room."
Khatri's face flushed bright red at Bull Dozer bringing up something so... embarrassingly personal. "Bull Dozer. Assistance now, discussion later." he muttered.
After getting his things ready, Rowdy and bull Dozer helped set Khatri up with a lady named Maanika. However, he was warned that there were some people who used false information on sites like these. With this in mind, Khatri grew concerned that the woman he was set up with wouldn't at all be how she had presented herself to be.
That night, with disguise and a fancy suit he had 'borrowed', the scientist headed to where they were set to meet: a restaurant called 'The Flaming Lily'.
Khari waited, though after a while he started getting concerned that his date wouldn't show up at first. However, he noticed a figure approaching him, none other than Maanika. She was wearing a long purple dress with golden trim, and was wearing a gold necklace and matching bracelets.
"Hello!' She said, beaming as she approached, prompting Khatri to give a rather anxious grin of his own. "Um... h-hi!" the scientist did his best to keep his composure, this being his first time after all. "You're Kaju Katli, right?" Maanika asked, seeming to take note of her blind date.
"Why yes.. um.. yes I am!" Khatri said.
"Thank goodness the page about you was truthful," Maanika responded to this. "I've heard some horror stories where that wasn't the case.. So, shall we get seated?" she gestured for him to follow, a warm yet hopeful look in her eyes, Khatri nodded and the two headed into the restaurant, where a waiter quickly directed the two to their seats. The place was packed with people, and the restaurant's environment had a fancy pallet of gold, red and purple all over.
So far, so good, Khatri thought to himself. He just had to keep this up.
"You know.. you seem rather familiar..." Maanika said. That comment made his heart lunge up into his throat, but only for a moment. "...Eh, probably just me," she continued, seeming to brush it off. Good, she still bought it.
Eventually, a waiter came to ask for their drinks. Getting his mind off the prior close call, both of them ended up ordering water. The waiter started to complement Maanika's appearance and what she was wearing, though from his tone and how he said certain things.. it was very, very obvious the waiter was trying to flirt with her... and right in front of her date, no less!
Maanika seemed to brush this interaction off, though Khatri felt his blood start to boil as he uttered a soft, irritated growl. One fatal flaw he was unaware of regarding his disguise was that it didn't really take intense emotions very well. Due to this, some features of his 'true form' began to slip through the cracks. His eyes became bloodshot, he grit his teeth as they became visibly sharper, he dug his fingers into the wooden table, scraping the table's wooden surface as his claws grew in.
Khatri loudly cleared his throat to get the waiter's attention, his expression and body language saying 'do you mind?!'. The waiter took one glance at Khatri and stepped back, getting the message but also looking like he'd just seen a ghost. Without another word, he rushed off into the kitchen.
Maanika took notice of the waiter's response, and upon looking back at Khatri she immediately seemed confused. The scientist only then noticed the scrapes in the table, his eyes widening in alarm upon noticing his claws. "Can you excuse me for just one moment? ...I'll be right back!" Khatri yelped, dashing to the restroom before Maanika could get in a response.
The scientist's fear only grew when he saw his reflection, and pulled back his sleeve to check his wristwatch only to find that the screen was glitching. Not knowing what else to do he gave the watch a good smack. This set it, and his disguise, back to normal. He hoped it would stay that way for the rest of the date, and that nothing else would cause this sort of thing to happen again, as he returned to Maanika's table.
"Sorry about that.." Khatri said as he at down, still seeming rather anxious. Maanika still felt rather confused at what she'd bore witness to, but... maybe she was just seeing things? To change the subject and take her mind off it, she tried to start some conversation, starting with his interests.
Khatri froze with this first question. He hadn't actually thought that far ahead, and he couldn't just tell Maanika what he actually did lest he get busted for it. He was going to have to make something up.
"Well, I'm a biochemist," he began, trying to keep his cool. "I work primarily with cells and how they grow."
"I see," Maanika replied. "Any chance you've made any mutants in your time?"
His date meant this in jest, but Khatri didn't take this well. It was almost as if she could see right through this disguise right at his real identity. "I... I wish..." the scientist nervously chuckled, slowly losing his cool under the hood.
"Darn, maybe someday you'll learn how to do that," Maanika continued. "Then again given how often we see mutants around here, I feel like it would take a while for the general public to accept any made for good uses."
"Yeah, but then again that's not my line of work..." Khatri was sweating bullets at this point, nervously looking around for the waiter and their drinks. Anything to allow him to change the topic to something far less personal.
Khatri glanced down at his watch with this, and noticed it start to glitch again. Not nearly as much as before, but it was enough to make him further on edge, and the fact he was sweating didn't help matters either. "Hold on a moment, I... I gotta... um... be right back!"
"Again? But- hey, the drinks are he-!" Maanika started, noticing the waiter approaching with a tray holding their drinks. However, Khatri's sudden attempted leave caused the waiter to trip, sending the drinks flying and splashing all over the table, Khatri... and his watch.
Another more fatal flaw of his device was that it wasn't waterproof, and as his disguise and watch began to glitch more intensely he desperately grabbed a towel to dry himself and cover his face.
The waiter scrambled to get up to grab more towels, but in his leave accidentally stepped right on Khatri's foot. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, just as Khatri's device died, and his infamous true form glitched into view. In a moment of pain, panic and overwhelming stress, the green man threw his head back and howled like a wolf at the top of his lungs, this sound drawing the attention of every patron in the restaurant.
Things went from bad to worse as Maanika began to panic with the situation now before her. "K...Khatarnak Khatri?!" she gasped. As soon as those words rang out, people started getting up from their seats in fear, some even whipping out their phones to alert the authorities of who was now revealed to be among them.
With the cat out of the bag, Khatri was left with no other choice: he had to get away from here ASAP. He charged out of the restaurant in a frantic hurry, leaving Maanika behind, shocked and confused to what she'd just seen. Khatri knew he had to pick up the pace upon hearing the oh-so familiar sound of police sirens, lest he get caught again.
He ducked into an alleyway to hide from the cops, this working way too well as they seemed to be directing all of their focus on the situation as it was in The Flaming Lily. Once they were away from his trail, he continued to sprint into the night and into the distant forest.
Meanwhile, back at the base, Rowdy had finished playing one last round of video games and was preparing to sign off for the night. The mutant rhino's routine was interrupted as he heard a familiar, yet mournful howl coming from outside. Not long after he witnessed his creator wander in, looking rather glum.
"Hey, boss... I'm guessing the date didn't go well?" Rowdy asked.
Khatri groaned, a flurry of emotions behind this noise. "It went terribly," he responded, looking at his ruined invention still on his wrist. "Where's the carton of badger milk when you need it?"
Rowdy sighed with this, feeling sorry for the scientist. "Sorry about that, boss. Me and Dozer were rootin' for you the entire time, if it helps."
The scientist sighed again. "Thank you. I just wish it had gone better, Maanika seemed really nice and I didn't get the proper chance to get to know her.."
"Well, at least you got us," Rowdy gave Khatri a gentle pat on the shoulder. This got a small smile from the scientist, as he knew this was true at least. "If you want, we can play something if you think it'd help."
Khatri hesitated at the proposition now before him. "Sure, that.. sounds nice," he eventually agreed, following Rowdy to where the video games were kept.
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I recently collaborated with the artist 'Chickie456' to create two scene arts for 'Jailbreak' and 'Khatri's Date Disaster', here's one of the collab arts, they came out amazing! Go give Chickie456 a follow if you want! :3
